Take Only Pictures and Leave Only Footprints Behind
2009 March 16
I constantly struggle with the “Take Only Pictures” part of this statement. I am part of a nature collecting family that finds it really hard to leave behind special treasures! I really think we benefit from it because it’s one of the ways we honor and learn about………….
Fossils……………
Bones……..
Cool trees with branches that twist this way and that……
Pretty shells…………….
Pretty shells…………….
And my favorite, beautiful fungus………………
We do stick to the 10 or more rule that I learned when I was a camp naturalist, “if there’s more than 10 you may collect a few, less then 10 don’t be a greedy fool!” We NEVER pick any of our endangered plants and pretty wildflowers.
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Love you blog! Would you mind if I posted the link in my blog roll?
Dianne
Oh yes a great rule to live by….lovely collections!
Thanks for sharing the 10 or more rule! Perfect! And makes god sense. We’re guilty of collecting treasures-the bigest being a huge moose antler that we lugged home from a hike! There definatley was NOT more that 1 in that vicinity! We vowed not to do that again…
(He, He) don’t take this as a rule you must all follow….not meant to be sent out that way. It’s just a rule we try to follow.
I hear you. My rock collection is out of control!! 10 is a good rule, I’ll have to remember that.
I’ve never heard the rule before, but it is such good advice. We have a hard time passing up bring home treasures, too…
No, we don’t bring anything alive home…except the fungus at times. The girls are pretty good at leaving the little critters “where they live.” Annie, sometimes I too will pluck a flower (when there are a lot) to press in our field guides.
Great stuff!
It really depends on what the treasure is. I used to go out looking at wild flowers where I once lived. I might take a sample or two of ones that I know have no trouble making up for the losses. I say that and yet I’ve been know to grab a fossil or two of my own. In that case, I figure I’ll take care of and share it with many people.
it is hard to leave things behind:-) I like the more then 10 rule, and we don;t bring anything alive home, we do observe it in a bug house and look it over a bit, but it goes back where it came from before we move on.
It really is a good rule to live by. And our nature tables WOULD be so bare without them.
awesome rule will have to implement that with my son.
I’m always amused by what the boys want to collect. Usually stuffing their pockets with little rocks, nuts, and arms full of sticks. Inevitably, papa or I end up carrying an armful of sticks that have to be brought home after little ones are tired of dragging them around.
I’m so with you on that one. Of course my greatest addiction is rocks. I love rocks, and I bring them home from every trip I go on.
Love this rule! I’ll teach it to my girls.
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It’s just so hard to leave behind little treasures. I didn’t know about the rule of 10, but it makes sense. =)
I totally forgot the rule of ten, thank you!
I finally got around to thanking you and passing on the lemonadey treat you sent my way, via the blog. Thanks again!
I feel the same way! My husband prefers the non-animal variety of nature to be the only kind of nature brought home, much to my daughter’s chagrin. She did manage to bring a bone home that she found on a beach in Ireland last year. He was convinced it wouldn’t make it through airport security.
He’s also skeeved by her penchant for feather-collecting, convinced that bird flu is in her future.
Yep…this is a toughy!
I like the camp naturalist rule, if there is more than 10… I remember that.
How would we have our nature tables without nature?
I struggle with that too!
It’s so hard to pass by a treasure and leave it!
I love this! Yes, we too have a hard time with this rule sometimes although we respect it. There is nothing nicer than natural treasures to be valued and taken care of to remind the children of this or that advuenture – to touch, smell, explore and dream over a particular fossil, stick, etc. My son has so many natural treasures and he mostly knows and fondly recalls where he got each one from. Certainly, wildflowers and other rare species should be respected and preserved and left in peace with our photos being our memories. Thanks for this!
This has nothing to do with this post but Erin asked about how to follow blogs… and I have the same question. How did you follow my blog? I’m not sure how to follow other’s blogs either. How does the follow by email work? Can you share a little about this?
I put it up now (the subscribe via email) since Erin asked but always wondered about that myself.